Liver Transplant - HBV

Living and receiving health care further away from a transplant center was associated with lower chances of being wait-listed for or receiving a liver transplant, according to a study of U.S. veterans described in the March 26 edition of JAMA.

People with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) who achieve hepatitis B "e" antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion when treated with nucleoside/nucleotide analogs are more likely to experience HBeAg seroreversion and HBV reactivation than those with natural clearance, according to a study described in the November 15, 2012, Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this month approved the immunosuppressant drug everolimus (brand name Zortress) for preventing organ rejection in people who undergo liver transplantation. A recent large study found that everolimus was easier on the kidneys when used in combination with low-dose tacrolimus (Prograf).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week approved revised product information for entecavir (Baraclude) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, adding new data from studies of African-American patients -- showing no differences in pharmacokinetics or safety -- and of people who received liver transplants.